Oct. 7, 2013

Demonstrators in support of fast food workers protest outside a McDonald's in New York's Times Square as they demand higher wages and the right to form a union without retaliation in July. Workers across the country, including Michigan are pushing for a higher minimum wage. / John Minchillo/AP Photo

Written by

Rashida Tlaib

Detroit Free Press guest writer

State Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit.

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With the worst recession in a generation still causing pain across the nation, raising the minimum wage should be part of an economic recovery agenda if state and federal leaders are truly committed to kick-starting our economy.

Families throughout Michigan are getting poorer. Low- and mid-wage occupations saw significant declines in their median wages compared with higher-wage occupations. A stronger minimum wage will help restore the consumer spending that powers our economy and that local businesses need in order to grow.

According to a study by the National Employment Law Project, real median wages declined 2.8% from 2009 to 2012. This is alarming. Workers are actually producing more goods and services per hour than they were when the recovery began, but their wages declined.

Additionally, we have seen the cost of living rise while pay rates have stagnated. The reluctance of some lawmakers to increase the minimum wage has effectively created a class of “working poor” that struggles to make ends meet. In the meantime, Michigan’s Republican leadership has eliminated some and reduced other successful anti-poverty programs, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit, that fueled neighborhoods like mine.

A vast majority of minimum-wage earners are adults with expenses such as food, housing and daily necessities. These workers earn $7.40 per hour, which has less purchasing power today. This leaves workers struggling with high gas prices and rent, which can range anywhere from $500 to more than $1,000 a month for just a one-bedroom apartment.

The American Dream, held as a standard for generations, has become inaccessible to hardworking Michiganders who are simply trying to make an honest living. Without a raise in Michigan’s minimum wage, employment will not lift individuals out of poverty, but chain them in it. An increase in the minimum wage would mean that the money these workers earn would quickly recirculate in the economy and stimulate local development.

Unless we can pay our workers more, our most vulnerable citizens will continue to suffer the most. Increasing the minimum wage has the potential to create good-paying jobs that build a strong middle class, attract and retain workers, and alleviate poverty. In a poll of Michigan residents conducted by Google Consumers Survey, commissioned by Oakland county Commissioner David Woodward and Progress Michigan, more than 70% of Michiganders would support an increase to $9 an hour. This represents a clear mandate.

There is a clear disconnect between Lansing and what is happening in our families and communities. The cost of this disconnect is measured beyond a scale of simple black or red ink. The largest and most populated city in our state, Detroit, has filed for bankruptcy. Our children are experiencing a diminishing standard of living, which inevitably produces ripples. Their kids and their grandkids will find it increasingly hard to make it in Michigan.

There is, however, one thing that is certain in this unstable situation: Even if we don’t raise the minimum wage to keep up with inflation, prices will no doubt continue to rise, making it even harder for our economy to recover.

Rashida Tlaib, a Democrat from Detroit, represents Michigan’s 6th District in the Michigan House of Representatives.